One of the two pilots who lost their lives in a collision at La Guardia Airport in New York on Sunday was a graduate from an Ontario college, as reported by .
The pilots have been identified as Antoine Forest and Mackenzie Gunther, according to sources from Radio-Canada.
Gunther served as the first officer on the flight and graduated from Seneca College’s aviation technology program in 2023, based out of Peterborough, Ont., according to a memorial posted online by the school this week.
The tragic event occurred when Air Canada Express Flight 8646 – a CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation that was transporting 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal to New York – collided with a Port Authority fire truck that was crossing the runway during landing on Sunday night. More than 40 individuals were taken to hospitals following the incident.
WATCH | How an Air Canada plane collided with a fire truck at La Guardia:
The moment a plane smashed into a fire truck at La Guardia Airport | About That
Air Canada Flight 8646 collided with a fire truck at New York’s La Guardia Airport, killing two pilots and injuring dozens of others. Andrew Chang breaks down what we know about the crash from air traffic control audio and insight from aviation experts. Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Gunther started working for Jazz Aviation right after graduating from Seneca, as mentioned in the school’s memorial. On Tuesday, flags will be flown at half-mast across Seneca campuses to honor his memory.
“Seneca sends our deepest condolences to Mr. Gunther’s family and friends, and to his former colleagues and professors. He will be deeply missed,” the memoriam read.
Several students enrolled in Seneca’s flight services program in North York expressed how shaken they felt upon hearing the news.
“We feel the loss of a student, and a pilot in this case, that was part of our community,” said Venhy Cortez, who is currently doing a placement with Porter Airlines.
Leena Bah, another student who didn’t personally know Gunther, shared that she and her classmates are thinking about his family now, hoping that this tragedy leads to safety improvements so similar incidents can be avoided in the future.
“It’s really hard to process it,” said Bah. “I feel fear, honestly, thinking that it could happen to anyone … they were both doing their jobs.”
The U. S. National Transportation Safety Board announced on Monday that they had recovered both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the aircraft; investigators planned to begin examining the flight data recorder on Tuesday.
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The moment a plane smashed into a fire truck at La Guardia Airport | About That
Air Canada Flight 8646 collided with a fire truck at New York’s La Guardia Airport, killing two pilots and injuring dozens of others. Andrew Chang breaks down what we know about the crash from air traffic control audio and insight from aviation experts. Images provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
Gunther started working for Jazz Aviation right after graduating from Seneca, as mentioned in the school’s memorial. On Tuesday, flags will be flown at half-mast across Seneca campuses to honor his memory.
“Seneca sends our deepest condolences to Mr. Gunther’s family and friends, and to his former colleagues and professors. He will be deeply missed,” the memoriam read.
Several students enrolled in Seneca’s flight services program in North York expressed how shaken they felt upon hearing the news.
“We feel the loss of a student, and a pilot in this case, that was part of our community,” said Venhy Cortez, who is currently doing a placement with Porter Airlines.
Leena Bah, another student who didn’t personally know Gunther, shared that she and her classmates are thinking about his family now, hoping that this tragedy leads to safety improvements so similar incidents can be avoided in the future.
“It’s really hard to process it,” said Bah. “I feel fear, honestly, thinking that it could happen to anyone … they were both doing their jobs.”
The U. S. National Transportation Safety Board announced on Monday that they had recovered both the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the aircraft; investigators planned to begin examining the flight data recorder on Tuesday.
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